Somaliland cannot ask investors and governments to trust its potential while keeping basic economic, licensing and public-service data inaccessible.
WARYATV Editorial Board | waryatv@waryatv.com
Somaliland wants foreign governments to recognize its statehood and international investors to believe in its economic future. Both ambitions depend on the same neglected national resource: credible public information.
Speeches can attract attention. They cannot substitute for statistics.
Claims about minerals, fisheries, livestock, trade corridors and investment opportunities carry little weight when outsiders cannot examine reliable surveys, ownership records, production data or regulatory terms.
Potential is not evidence
Somaliland’s leadership has promoted lithium, oil, gas, agriculture, fisheries and renewable energy as fields for international cooperation. The president has also spoken of exchanging access to resources for Israeli technology and investment.
These may be legitimate opportunities. But geological potential is not a proven reserve, and an exploration licence is not a producing industry.
Government should publish a searchable register identifying licence holders, beneficial owners, geographic blocks, award dates, obligations and current status. Environmental studies and revenue-sharing rules should also be accessible.
Data protects the government as well as the public
Transparency is sometimes treated as a concession to critics. In reality, it protects responsible officials from exaggerated claims and questionable investors.
Reliable information allows ministries to compare offers, Parliament to examine policy and communities to understand what has been promised. It also helps serious investors distinguish Somaliland from speculative markets where access depends on political connections.
The same principle applies beyond minerals. Somaliland needs regularly updated data on trade, employment, food imports, fuel stocks, water access, education and municipal finance.
Credibility is strategic infrastructure
Recognition is partly a legal and diplomatic argument. It is also a test of whether Somaliland can perform the ordinary functions expected of a state.
A national statistical and open-data system would strengthen investment promotion, emergency planning and negotiations with international institutions. It would make policy disagreements more factual and reduce dependence on figures produced by outside organizations.
Somaliland cannot control whether every government recognizes it. It can control whether its public claims are professional, measurable and independently examinable.
A country seeking international confidence must first become confident enough to publish its own evidence.
